B&N at CES 2014, In a Single Photo

When I wrote a few days ago about B&N not bringing the Nook to CES 2014, I questioned whether they were making a wise investment in bringing only books to a gadget trade show.

But after I saw their booth this morning I'm not sure that it counts as a major investment for B&N. Check out the branding:

The Gary mentioned all over the signage is probably Gary Shapiro, the head of CEA (the trade group behind CES). Do you notice how he is mentioned in larger font than Barnes & Noble? That is probably a sign that this isn't actually B&N's booth; they're simply running it on behalf of the CEA. And that changes everything.

I doubt B&N is actually paying for this booth (or at least they are getting a huge discount), and in retrospect I now doubt that they paid for the booth last year either (kudos to Vonda Z for suggesting that possibility last year). If B&N's only investment is overhead then their costs drop considerably and their presence here is no longer inexplicable. odd, yes, but not inexplicable.

CES is just a giant shouting match by companies trying to get airtime showing off prototypes for devices that won’t be shipped for months (if ever). That isn’t BN’s game in the digital market (nor Apple’s, nor Amazon’s), this isn’t the time of year they have new tech to show off, and they certainly wouldn’t be able to get the kind of media coverage they would want over the massive keynotes from Samsung, Intel, etc.

So why not just show up and sell a few hundred $30 hardcovers at little to no overhead? It’s just bank. Makes perfect sense.

Microsoft used to spend a ton, they stopped.
Apple hasn’t gone for decades, if ever.
The big companies have learned it is more cost effective to stage their own shows.
(Or, as Amazon has done lately, do nothing and let the product speak for itself.)
These days the smart startups don’t actually exhibit; they instead rent a hotel suite and do targeted meet-n-greets. Or, if they have money, they host a party.

Yep. Amazon has been exceptionally careful in managing the hype around all of their hardware launches since at least 2009 and they’ve been getting better at it with each launch. Both of the presentations I have attended were carefully choreographed and used well-written half-truths to create the exactly impression that Amazon wanted.